Star Trek: Discovery confirms Spock reveal and more at Comic-Con 2018

Anson Mount plays Captain Christopher Pike on the second season of Discovery.

Jan Thijs/CBS

Star Trek: Discovery will bring on the franchise's most famous Vulcan for its second season, the cast and crew announced at Comic-Con this week.

That makes sense since we now know Captain Christopher Pike will be pairing up with our Discovery crew after their recent time-hop.

Executive Producer Alex Kurtzman confirmed Spock would appear when the show comes back in January. But a trailer shown to the crowds at the Comic-Con panel suggested Spock wouldn't show up right away, and that he appears to be linked to mysterious red bursts that serve as the central mystery of the season.

The first season of Discovery had a lot riding on its shoulders, from bringing back the Star Trek franchise to television and winning over old fans to serving as the flagship show for the CBS All Access streaming service (disclosure: CBS is CNET's parent company). The producers opted to introduce darker themes, a continuing storyline and more complex characters on par with modern shows.

The cast and showrunners teased a lighter show with a better balance of humor and intensity -- particularly now that the war with the Klingons have passed. They're likely hoping to tap into that old-school Trek magic -- it's the first time in 27 years that Spock has been on television. While Zachary Quinto has played him in the films, Leonard Nimoy's last television appearance was on a 1991 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

This year at Comic-Con, Star Trek: Discovery got upgraded to the larger Hall H venue, home to the biggest headliners at the convention. The panelists didn't disappoint, offering up a teaser (above) and dropping a lot tidbits for the upcoming season. We also got news of an upcoming series of Star Trek short films that will delve into the backstories of popular Discovery characters.

Other revelations:

Kurtzman also promised there would be a lot of answers to lingering questions for the show. "We know we owe you some answers, and you'll get them," he said, adding that they may not be what you expect.

"We're synching up with canon this year," Kurtzman added.

Kurtzman said that while many people guessed the key twists of the first season, they didn't get it completely right. "There's still a surprise." Executive Producer Heather Kadin said she's not worried about people getting ahead of them, as long as they enjoy the story.

Anson Mount, who plays Captain Christopher Pike, said we'd meet the Enterprise's original "Number One," played by Rebecca Romijn. She was originally played by Majel Barrett-Roddenberry.

Wilson Cruz, the actor who plays Dr. Hugh Culber on the show, confirmed he'd be back, but didn't specify how. Culber's character was killed off in the first season. "Gay love saved the universe," he said.

Doug Jones, who plays the Kelpian first officer of the ship, said the crew will head to the Kelpian homeworld.

Will Captain Gabriel Lorca be back? "Maybe," Kurtzman said.

Mary Chieffo's L'Rell character is still in charge of the Klingon Empire, although she's struggling to lead in a patriarchal society.

L'Rell and Ash Tyler will have some complex conversations about their unorthodox relationship.